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thank you note with pen, gift, cookies, and flowers
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SBU | Life > Experiences

Handwritten Love

Ella McIntyre Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

I love handwritten cards, letters, and notes. Anyone who’s ever been in a class with me knows about my preference to pull out a notebook and write notes instead of typing them. I remember these handwritten notes significantly more than anything I’ve ever typed. I also enjoy taking the time to handwrite at least a little something in every birthday card. It takes two seconds to write a handwritten “Happy Birthday!” inside the premade birthday card, a simple gesture that showcases some effort to the person receiving the card. 

I also love receiving handwritten cards, notes, and letters, and I have the hardest time throwing anything handwritten that I’ve ever received away. So much so that my mom had to get me a little red box to hold the most important ones so I could weed out the ones that simply said “Happy Birthday! – name” from ones that had a more substantial message. 

There are endless small drawings and notes passed during classes on sticky notes kept in this red box that will most likely stay there for eternity, being taken out when I feel the rush of nostalgia kick in. Or when the box begins to overflow and I need to make cuts between the handwritten note from my childhood best friend and the twenty small notes she passed during independent work time in elementary school. 

I have never been one to journal my feelings or keep a diary of any kind other than a planner of tasks I need to complete. For me, it was always so much easier to write my thoughts and feelings than it was to speak them aloud. So rather than tell my friends I appreciate them aloud, I would write a paragraph that took up the blank side of the birthday card and smile through the surprise of my friends when they read through the message. I learned to embrace having long thought-out messages typed or written out to my friends and grew into the job of preparing every birthday card for my family. 

There will always be a small part of me that values the handwritten note over the physical item every single time. I know the extra time it took to write my name and a small message, and that means I was worth some amount of extra effort. Although I suck at communicating my appreciation of my friends and family, they recognize it regardless. 

My favorite collection of notes is carried with me from home to college every year. On my worst days, I am reopening the card that made me feel loved, or the collection of yearbook notes that make me smile and remember that I had some form of an impact on another person, and the evidence of that impact is tangible. I will forever believe that handwritten love is one of the best forms of love.

Ella McIntyre

SBU '27

Ella is a member of the St. Bonaventure Her Campus Chapter. She plans on writing pieces that cover music, literature, TV and Movies, and the happenings of her life here at SBU.

Ella is a junior Inclusive Adolescent Education and English double Major. She enjoyed doing New Visions Education during her senior year of high school, which gave her a small experience of observing middle and high school classrooms. She has enjoyed exploring all of the clubs and opportunities SBU has to offer, and continues to do so by joining Her Campus, volunteering at the SPCA, as a member of the Bonaventure Education Association (BEA, and SGA representative for SBU for Equality and SBU College Democrats.

Outside of classes and Her Campus, Ella can be found studying, reading, or outside soaking up the sun (whenever it’s an option to “photosynthesize”). Ella also loves chatting with friends as a part of her not-so-quick study breaks.